FUNGOUS AND OTHER DISEASES. 7l 
experiments made by Doctor Smith were barren of results, one yielded 
rather notable success. This was in the orchard of Mr. Horace 
Roberts, at Fellowship, N. J. Twigs from Florida bearing San Jose 
scales infested by the fungus were tied to branches of infested tree? 
about the middle of June. Toward the end of September Doctor 
Smith found the fungus upon almost all of the trees upon which twigs 
had been tied. He reports that it had spread pretty well over the 
trees, and in some cases its presence was obvious from the surface of 
the ground to the extremity of the branches, hundreds of patches of 
the orange fruiting processes being everywhere noticeable. In no 
case, however, so far as Doctor Smith observed, had the disease spread 
to any adjacent trees, unless in a less visible stage, and by no means 
all of the scales on the trees containing these twigs were dead. 
Various saprophytic fungi which develop in diseased or dying wood 
are sometimes so closely associated with the scale, or in fact grow on 
the scale as well as on the wood, that the inference is a very natural 
one that the scale is being killed by- these fungi. Examples of two 
such fungi have recently been sent to us for examination and were 
submitted to the Laboratory of Plant Pathology of this Department 
for investigation. The following report indicates their nature: 
We find two species of fungi present upon these specimens. The most conspicuous 
form is Micropera cotoneastri {Ft.) Sacc. The fungus forms small, black, somewhat 
pulvinate masses on the surface of the bark, sometimes covering old scales. The 
plant is not mature and shows in only a few instances pycnospores. It is not an 
uncommon fungus upon diseased or dying branches of fruit trees and other closely 
related rosaceous plants. Its relation to the scales present is probably always acci- 
dental. The fungus probably develops more readily upon the twigs which have 
been injured or partially killed by the scale. 
There is also another fungus present in a considerable quantity on some of the 
twigs. It consists of minute black, slender stipitate bodies a few millimeters high. 
This is also immature, showing only conidia. It is probably Spinctrina cerasi B. & C. 
In the absence of the ascigerous form of the fungus it is impossible to state positively 
that this is the species. As in the case of the other fungus mentioned, it probably 
bears no parasitic relation to the scales present, as it usually occurs on dead or dying 
branches of fruit, trees. 
The first fungus mentioned (Micropera) is the one most closely associated with the 
scales. 
The plan of using contagious insect diseases to destroy important 
pests, such as the San Jose scale, is a very attractive one, and in the 
case of the San Jose scale well worthy of more careful study than has 
so far been given it. It is possible that some of the obscure forms of dis- 
ease which have already appeared in northern districts, as in Maryland, 
Virginia, and in the State of Washington, may be capable of artificial 
propagation, and distribution, and yield results of distinct value in the 
control of the scale. All of these fungous and other diseases will 
undoubtedly become more efficient with the more wide and general 
distribution of the scale. 
